In one of the best restaurants in the world, Gilles Goujon is preparing his succession

He is in The top 5 of the best restaurants in the world For several years. The Auberge du Vieux Puits de Fontjoncouse (Aude) is The only three stars of Occitania. It is therefore an international institution of gastronomy. With a chef, Gilles Goujon, who is already preparing his succession …

It is indeed based more and more on His sons Enzo and Axel led to take over the torch.

On the eve of surgery, his eyes sparkle, blush and get on it when the 63 -year -old chief evokes the future of his restaurant, renowned for his taste, olfactory show, and for “The rotten egg with truffles”son plat signature.

“Transmitting to your children, there is no more good satisfaction”

“To be able to transmit is fantastic, it is in the DNA of the chef. Transmitting to his children, there is no more good satisfaction, ”he says after the service, installed in an armchair near the old stone well.

Opened in 1992, the establishment attracts clientele from around the world to Fontjoncouse, a wine municipality of 150 inhabitants, in the heart of the Corbières.

“In four or five years”

“At one point, I’m going to withdraw, there will be a handover,” he projects.

“In four or five years. Or before. While staying there. They still have things to learn, but I feel them ready to take the torch, with Paul”.

Paul Rey is “the third son”, an inseparable friend of Enzo. The two kids had the same nanny, grew up together in Fontjoncouse. The two childhood friends copilot the cuisine, while Exxel Toujon, 25, is distinguished, in virtuoso desserts. The pastry chef of the Auberge won in 2025 The passion price dessert from the Michelin for the Maracai chocolate marquise and passion fruit.

In this profession which cherishes the transmission of knowledge, many chiefs trained at the inn have experienced a starry destiny. The most famous of them is Kei Kobayashifirst Japanese chief to win the Grail in France. “We cried, in each other’s arms when he obtained the third star,” recalls the innkeeper of the Corbières.

The example of Marcon

In the art of transmission, The Marcon family is a model For Gilles Goujon. In Haute-Loire, Régis Marcon has been at the baguette of the eponymous restaurant, 3 stars since 2005, with his eldest son Jacques and his youngest, Paul, winner of the Bocuse d’Or in January.

Audois chief, son of a dead fighter pilot when he was 10 years old, did not receive inheritance cuisine itself. “My father wanted to be a cook, but his family prevented him,” he said. His mother waited for him to be distinguished “best apprentice” at the age of 16, to reveal it to him. “It has increased my desire to be a chef”, said Gilles Goujon, observing his son Enzo, almost 29 years old, preparing morels filled with a crustacean muslin.

A stroke

With each entry into the kitchen, a “hello chef” sounds. Including his sons, because “There are no sons to dad” in this profession. All are housed in the same brand.

The three 2025 macaroons have a particular fragrance. This 16^e consecutive consecration intervenes after a stroke of the patriarch who propelled Enzo and Axel on the front of the stage, during the convalescence. “It is a moment of wonder, which children listen and reproduce … better,” revels Gilles Goujon, also owner with them of the alter native, created in 2021 in Béziers and already a Michelin star.

He is with his sons, like a father who was deprived of his “too early”. A “Authoritarian, loving patriarch, close to my young”, he said. “They need me, I need them.” One of the last recipes, the turbot cooked in wax, it was Enzo who finalized it.

“Born in a saucepan!” »»

“I was born in a saucepan!” And I have photos to prove it, “said Enzo, the elder, who has” expanded his knowledge “in the kitchens of the Marcon restaurant, Arnaud Donckele in Saint-Tropez and Paul Pairet in Shanghai. “It’s our life, we have fun coming to work in the morning. We prepare this handover, it will be one day (…) We will put our imprint And we will try to do better, ”he jokes. “Leaving school, If I wanted to see my parents, it was at the restaurant. I observed, hypnotized, it led to a passion, ”continues the cadet. Like his father, he draws the desserts he creates and dreams of recipes at night.

With AFP

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